'Fix the Debt' Is a Front Group for CEOs Who Don't Want to Pay Their Taxes

We've reported for several months now the "Fix the Debt" group is a Trojan horse. It cynically calls for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits (in the name of "deficit reduction") while advocating for lower taxes for corporations and businesses that ship jobs overseas.

Erskine B. Bowles, a co-founder of Fix the Debt, was paid $345,000 in stock and cash in 2011 as a board member at Morgan Stanley, while Judd Gregg, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire and a co-chairman of Fix the Debt, is a paid adviser to Goldman Sachs. Both companies have engaged in lobbying on international tax rules.

Mr. Gregg also sits on the boards of Honeywell and IntercontinentalExchange, a company that has warned investors that a tax on financial transactions would lower trading volume and curtail its profits. The two companies paid Mr. Gregg almost $750,000 in cash and stock in 2011.

In all, close to half of the members of Fix the Debt’s board and steering committee have ties to companies that have engaged in lobbying on taxes and spending, often to preserve tax breaks and other special treatment.